Flooring spacers

ABSTRACT

A piece usable to maintain a slight space between groups of laid floor boards until the floor has been fully laid. The piece has a head adapted to be grasped between the fingers, a pendent tongue insertible into the space, and a wide base with feet seating the piece squarely on the floor boards adjoining the space.

United States Patent [191 Boettcher FLOORING SPACERS [76] Inventor:William A. Boettcher, 4507 North Clarke Street, Chicago, Ill. 60640 [22]Filed: May 6, 1971 [211 App]. No.: 140,833

[52] US. Cl. ..33/180 R, 33/168 R [51] Int. Cl. ..G0lb 5/14 [58] Fieldof Search ..33/l80 R, 168 R,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,290,712 12/1966 Richey..33/l80R [451 May 29,1973

2,930,135 3/1966 Roditz, Sr. ..33/180 R 3,174,227 3/1965 House ..33/180R 2,466,919 4/1949 Sykes ..33/180 R 1,742,103 12/1929 Sholtes ..33/180 RPrimary Examiner-William D. Martin, Jr. Attorney-S. J. Lehrer [5 7]ABSTRACT A piece usable to maintain a slight space between groups oflaid floor boards until the floor has been fully laid. The piece has ahead adapted to be grasped between the fingers, a pendent tongueinsertible into the space, and a wide base with feet seating the piecesquarely on the floor boards adjoining the space.

3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures FLOORING SPAC My invention relates toflooring, and more particularly to means for maintaining floor boards inslightly separated relation at suitable intervals.

When floor boards are laid, it is customary not to lay all of them inclose or contacting succession because of their inherent tendency toexpand when the air is damp or moist. This condition or inclementweather may occur after flooring has been laid; and in such eventflooring laid close will expand and buckle. It is therefore the practiceto lay only a group of boards close, and separate them from the nextgroup by the insertion of a few washers along the line where they arespaced. This expedient is unreliable because the washers may roll out ofplace or fail to settle, and require special handling. Sheet metal anglestrips are also in use, with one wing deposited in. the space ofseparation. However, when the flooring expands the angle strips becomejammed tight, requiring the insertion of tools to pry them out. Also,their insertion and removal tend to scratch or mar the surface of theflooring.

In view of the above conditions, it is one object of the presentinvention to provide a flooring spacer in the form of a small, solidpiece with means to both fit spaces in flooring and rest squarely onadjoining floor boards.

A further object is to devise a spacer of the character mentioned whichis sufficiently wide to span or rest on boards which are separated morewidely or at an angle, and has a tongue depending into the space ofseparation, insuring the proper placement of the spacer and itsself-alinement with the boards when they gather or close from expansion.

Another object is to taper the tongue of the spacer in downwarddirection in order that it may not become fully tightened betweenadjoining boards when they gather from expansion, so that no extremeefiort will be required to pull the spacer loose from the floor.

A still further object is to form the spacer with a constricted bodyportion suitable for engagement by a claw hammer to pull the spacer upin case it cannot be loosened by manual effort.

A final object is to provide a spacer which is in one piece of lightmetal, and handy to carry in quantities from job to job.

A better understanding of the invention may be gained by reference tothe accompanying drawing, in which FIG. 1 is a side elevation of aspacer somewhat enlarged and set on a floor board, dotted lines showingthe application of a claw hammer for pulling the spacer up from thefloor;

FIG. 2 is an end view showing the spacer spanning the adjoining portionsof a pair of floor boards;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing spacers of conventional sizeapplied to flooring; and

FIG. 4 is a similar view of modified spacers applied I to parquetflooring blocks.

Referring specifically to the drawing, denotes the head portion of thespacer, which is rounded at the sides and formed with a well 11 in themiddle. The spacer is preferably made as an aluminum extrusion immune tocorrosion and requiring no paint or other protective coating on itssurface. Its head is designed to be grasped between the fingers, and hasno function in its top. Therefore, the well 1 l saves metal withoutsacrificing strength. I

the need of skill or accuracy,

2 The medial portion 12 of the spacer is constricted into hollow form,and re-expanded toward the bottom to form a wide base 13. The topcorners of the base are also rounded, as seen at 13a; and the base isdivided on the under side to form feet 13b having flat bottom surfaces.This enables the spacer to span a pair of floor boards 14 squarely witha wide stance, as shown in FIG. 2

The spacer has a pendent medial tongue 15 which extends in longitudinaldirection and tapers toward the bottom, as shown in FIG. 2. By enteringthe space between the pair of floor boards, as shown, the spacerprevents them from close engagement.

When a floor is laid, the floor boards are usually set a few at a timein close succession. A very narrow space is left before the next groupof boards is laid to allow for expansion of the floor boards. Thus, anumber of very narrow spaces occur across the floor by the time it hasbeen laid. While these spaces are not readily noticeable, theircumulative width comprises a suitable allowance for the expansion of thefloor boards, so that the floor will not warp or buckle when the air isdamp or moist from inclement weather. Plain flooring has a greaterfactor of expansion than quarter-sawn flooring. The width of theperiodical spaces is therefore calculated to suit the expansion factorof the flooring laid; and the spacers may be made with tongues 15 in twoor three thicknesses, according to the spacing of the floor board groupsfor one job or another.

In contrast with the makeshift spacers previously mentioned, the presentspacer assumes a stable position the moment it has been deposited withthe tongue 15 inserted in a flooring space. In advancing the floorboards, a space here and there may be too wide, out of line or tapered.In this event the improved spacer will still span the boards even whenseating with a side turn, as shown in the right-hand portion of FIG. 3,and turn to self-alinement with the boards when they are moved closer.

When a floor has been completely laid with spacers deposited betweengroups of floor boards and at points along the spaces therebetween, itmay be found overnight or after a spell of inclement weather that thefloor boards have expanded into tight engagement with the spacer tongues15. Since these are tapered the grip on them is not even; and in someinstances the spacers may be pulled up by hand. However, where the gripon them is tighter, a claw hammer 16 may be inserted under the head ofeach spacer, as indicated by dotted lines in FIG. 1, to pull the spacerout with ease and without harm to the flooring.

The spacer may also be used for separating parquet floor blocks whereverdesired. Since these blocks are short, a single, longer spacer 18 isapplicable as shown in FIG. 4 between blocks wherever their separationis desired.

It is now'apparent that the novel spacer is a unit which is easilydeposited wherever necessary without and holds its place whether thefloor board spaces are narrow, wide, out of line or of irregular form.Since the spacer is heavier at its wide bottom, it is always upright andeasily picked up. Further, since the spacer is in one piece and verylight, a supply of spacers may be carried in a tool kit from job to job.Finally, the even form of the spacer enables it to be producedinexpensively from linear stock by extrusion.

tending tongue depending from the base portion.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said tongue is of a taper anddownward extension determined by the width of the said space which iscalculated to suit the expansion factor of the flooring laid.

3. The structure of claim 1 wherein the bottom surfaces of of the baseportion are arched on the under side to form feet along the outer edgesof the arches,

said feet having flat bottom surfaces.

* i i i i

1. A spacer for laying wooden flooring with a space between selectedadjacent floor boards and maintaining said borads in a spacerelationship, comprising a base portion to span said space and having apair of flat bottom surfaces of sufficient width to rest on the topsurfaces of said adjacent boards where they adjoin said space, an upwardextension from said base having a constricted medial portion terminatingin a head portion formed aS a gripping surface, and amedially-positioned, downwardlytapered, longitudinally extending tonguedepending from the base portion.
 2. The structure of claim 1 whereinsaid tongue is of a taper and downward extension determined by the widthof the said space which is calculated to suit the expansion factor ofthe flooring laid.
 3. The structure of claim 1 wherein the bottomsurfaces of of the base portion are arched on the under side to formfeet along the outer edges of the arches, said feet having flat bottomsurfaces.